


Clouds and Silver Linings

by HungryLibrary



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, First posted to Tumblr, Then fluff, a little misunderstanding, and reading, books are good, damp and fed-up blake, slightly oblivious ruby, soothing sore spots is a delicate thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-13
Updated: 2015-01-13
Packaged: 2018-03-07 10:08:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3170930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HungryLibrary/pseuds/HungryLibrary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's cold. It's damp. </p>
<p>It's raining and Blake's patience is already shot thanks to the heat seeking raindrops, she has none left for people coddling her Faunus traits. </p>
<p>Not even when that person happens to be Ruby.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Clouds and Silver Linings

It wasn't the length of the mission that bothered Blake (she had prepared for that with appropriately sized book) it was the  _rain_ , and how much of wrench it was putting in her attempts to read...

They had been sent out with just the clothes on their backs and their weapons. Survival training of a sort- but now Team RWBY was already on its way home and there wasn’t much point in building a shelter when Beacon was only a few more hours away.

So when the weather turned bad, they had decided to hunker down under whatever they could find.

Blake was starting to wish they’d just pushed on.

Being drenched might be high on her list of Things To Avoid, but the real problem was trying to find a spot in the tree that was safe for reading.

No matter where she went the branches just weren’t thick enough to completely block out the rain. The only thing she could do was curl herself around the book as she read, trying to shield it with her body and getting a regular splash of cold water down the back for her trouble.

The rest of her team seemed to be having a slightly better time of it.

Yang was doing cartwheels in the downpour, laughing and steaming as the rain evaporated inches above her skin.

Considerably less happy was Weiss, leaning against Blake’s tree with her coat held overhead like a scanty tent. Sometimes Blake could hear her muttering darkly to herself- but never loud enough for the words to be picked up, even by Faunus hearing.

And then of course there was Ruby- impervious to the rain with her hood up and cloak drawn tight.

Their fearless leader wandered in circles around the rest of her team, head bent and occasionally bending down to look at something on the ground. Searching for Grimm tracks Blake supposed. Or maybe just admiring the smattering of wildflowers that dotted the forest floor… it was hard to tell when she couldn’t see Ruby’s face.

Both flowers and fights made the younger girl light up. But with Grimm it was a sharp, almost hungry look, while flowers only made Ruby smile.

Ruby came to a sudden stop and glanced up curiously, searching the tree for Blake’s slightly darker form.

Blake ignored the gaze and turned back to her book.

She didn’t feel like talking. She felt cold and irritable where her wet hair fell on the bare skin of her arms and she just wanted to read. She could always forget minor discomforts while in the depths of a good book…

Drip. Drip. Drrriiip…. Plop!

With a silent snarl Blake tore the bow from her head and scrubbed furiously at her Faunus ears.

She  _hated_ getting water in them!

But apparently the forest found Douse the Cat to be a very funny game, because the next thing Blake felt was a little breeze.

While not enough to do more than chill her it was certainly strong enough to set the branches swaying, which meant even more water was about to come rushing down on her-

Roses fell instead of rain.

Ruby wobbled on the branch before Blake, biting her lip in concentration as she adjusted the hood over Blake’s ears.

“There!” Silver eyes beamed as Ruby sat back on her heel to admire her handiwork. “That helps a bit, right?”

Blake felt her jaw clench.

Anger sparked inside her chest, the heat of it momentarily drowning out the rainy chill.

“I’m a  _Faunus,_  Ruby. Not a  _cat_.”

The words came out low and quiet as a growl.

Memories were stirring- a child with cute fuzzy ears wasn’t usually a target for sticks or stones, but words said with condescending kindness ( _Poor little thing. Would you like a warm cup of milk? Come out of the rain, this is no weather for a kitten to be wandering around)_  had been common.

She had hated them more than actual blows. In the years since, her opinion hadn't changed.

“A  _Faunus_ not a  _cat._  A little water won’t hurt me anymore than it would you.”

Ruby’s face fell.

“But, I didn’t…. I mean, I just thought-“

“Just thought  _what?_  That you should lend the poor kitty a helping paw?”

Blake felt a pang as Ruby’s pale face went even paler, frightened by the anger in her friend’s voice. But Blake wasn’t an animal, and she was sick of being treated like one.

“I don’t need your help, thanks all the same. So you can have this back.“

She reached up to pull off the ( _admittedly very comfortable)_  cloak-

Only for Ruby to dart forward and grab her wrist, stopping Blake easily. It was an uncanny reminder of just how strong someone had to be in order to swing around a scythe larger than their own body, and right then it made Blake furious.

“Ruby, let  _go_ -“

“The cloak isn’t for you, Blake! It’s for your book.”

Blake stared.

She let the words replay in her head.

“…My book?”

“Yeah!” Ruby nodded full force, apparently energized by Blake’s much calmer ( _if puzzled_ ) tone.

“You can’t read in the rain like that! The pages will get soggy and the words will bleed together- and it’ll be all weird and crinkly even after you dry it out. Uh, I sorta fell asleep reading outside once…” She explained, apparently taking Blake’s silence as a question.

“Yang thought the storm would wake me up. It didn’t and I probably would have caught a cold if she hadn’t carried me back inside… but the book was a total mess afterwards. Still feel kinda bad about that, heh.”

Ruby offered up an abashed grin.

“So I just thought, this time I’d try saving a book, you know? But I can string my cloak up as a canopy if the hood bothers your ears-“

“No.”

This time it was Blake who moved to stop her.

“It’s… it’s fine.”

It was impossible not to smile at the look of relief on Ruby’s face.

It was also hard to ignore the hollowness of the guilt now pooling in Blake’s chest.

The near-constant scolding’s from Weiss were definitely toughening the younger girl’s skin, but Ruby was still Ruby, better at dealing with a horde of Grimm than harsh words from a friend.

And she had been thinking of Blake the Bookworm, not Blake the Faunus.

“Won’t you get cold, though? If you lend your cloak to me.”

Maybe it was just a misunderstanding. Maybe she should apologize properly for snapping at Ruby…

The imagined wound to her pride still stung, though, and Blake couldn’t get the words out right.

But Ruby didn’t seem to mind.

 “I’ll be okay. After all, I’ve got the warmest clothes on the team!”

Ruby grinned and moved further back on the branch to give Blake space, craning her neck to eye the hovering rainclouds.

“This doesn’t look like it’s gotten any lighter, though. If it won't let up in the next half-hour we might just have to make a run for it. Weiss will kill me if we end up spending the night out here-”

“Ruby.”

“Huh?”

Blake didn’t like the space between them. Normally she wasn’t much for getting close to people, but in this case… just this once, if she couldn’t say sorry out loud…

She lifted one arm, opening up a spot next to her on the branch.

“There’s plenty of room… and I think you might like this book.”

Ruby hesitated.

"It’s not by that same author you recommended to me last time, is it? Because I’d really don’t wanna get turned off any more of my favorite foods…”

With a chuckle Blake shook her head. Nothing was a better cure for a sour mood than an adorably nervous Ruby.

“No, it isn’t. There’s no combat in this one either, but the main character has some really good friends, and they go on amazing adventures together.”

“Sounds great!”

Ruby tucked herself against Blake’s side with a grin. She was warm even though damp from the rain, and Blake felt herself inch instinctively just a bit closer.

“Um, Blake?”

“Hmm..?”

Ruby fidgeted with hem of their makeshift blanket as Blake flicked back to the start of the book.

“You, uh, you dropped your bow…”

So she had. Blake could see it lying on the leaf-strewn forest floor, quite a ways below them.

She smiled and slipped an arm around Ruby’s shoulders.

“It’s fine. I don’t need it right now anyway.”

Ruby beamed and took the book offered to her, holding it up to read as Blake wrapped them both in their warm red cocoon.

A tuft of Ruby’s feathery hair tickled her cheek as she leaned in with a smile, a smile that grew as moments passed and Ruby tapped her finger a few seconds after Blake herself finished the page. Rain pattered and paper crackled as muffled voice drifted up from below.

The next time it rained they would safe and dry inside their room at Beacon- but Blake hoped that wouldn’t stop them from curling up together like this anyway.

She’d had partners in combat before. She’d never had someone who just wanted to sit and read with her before. Someone more keen on the book in her hands than the velvet black ears on her head.

Blake had the tight, fluttery feeling that she could get used to this.


End file.
